US police facing heat over manhunt fire

US POLICE are under scrutiny after officers were recorded apparently discussing a plan to burn down the cabin where America's most wanted man made his last stand.

Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who threatened to wage ''war'' against former colleagues, died on Tuesday night after a firefight in snowy woodland in California. He and SWAT teams exchanged an estimated 500 rounds, with one police officer killed and another injured.

Radio activity emerged that featured an officer ordering colleagues to ''burn it [the cabin] down'' and a voice saying: ''We're gonna go forward with the plan, with the burn.'' One officer was heard saying: ''Seven burners deployed and we have a fire. We have fire in the front. He might come out the back.'' ''Burners'' is a term sometimes used by police to refer to tear-gas canisters.

A television station also broadcast what appeared to be an officer at the scene saying: ''We're going to burn him out,'' and ''burn that ------- house down''.

A former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes, told CNN: ''It's clear there will have to be some further explanation.''

He said officers may have set fire to one corner of the building in an attempt to force Dorner out the other side. Police used an armoured vehicle to break the cabin windows, threw in gas canisters, and told Dorner to ''surrender or come out''.

The vehicle tore down each of the cabin's walls. One shot was heard inside and flames leapt from the building, suggesting that Dorner may have set the lodge on fire and committed suicide. Tests will determine whether he died from a gunshot wound or the flames.

A body was later found in the basement. Dorner's licence was found in the wreckage.

Media commentators questioned the police tactics. ''Can the cops really burn a suspect alive? Does it matter that he killed their own, that the whole world has been watching?'' said The Atlantic's Alexander Abad-Santos.

''This was a manhunt with an end in sight, surely, but if the fire was set deliberately and it did kill Dorner, is that an acceptable amount of legal force?''

San Bernardino county sheriff John McMahon bristled at a press conference on Wednesday when reporters raised similar questions. ''I can tell you it was not on purpose,'' he said. ''We did not intentionally burn down the cabin to get Mr Dorner out.''

Dorner went on the run after allegedly shooting dead three people, including a policeman, but was discovered by cleaning staff in a cabin close to where his burnt-out truck had been found abandoned last Friday.

Commentators and neighbours questioned the effectiveness of the hunt, with many cabin owners interviewed by the Los Angeles Times saying police never knocked on their door.

A member of the San Bernardino sheriff's team at the press conference insisted officers had gone to each cabin, and if there was no sign of a break-in, they moved on to the next. The press conference was abruptly closed after just a few minutes.

For six days, Dorner had been hiding just 100 metres away from the police command centre in Big Bear Lake. On Tuesday, two maids arrived to clean the property. Dorner tied them up and stole their Nissan vehicle but they were able to break free and called 911.